With Disney’s capture of Fox, they now have a chokehold on the film market. But can this movie empire keep the Star Wars series running at 12 Parsecs?
The Last Jedi is broken down into 3 distinct storylines:
Storyline 1: Battlestar Gallactica with Poe Dameron
The main plot follows the Rebel fleet being chased through the galaxy by the First Order. They call out for help and no one responds which brings up real questions about the efficacy of a rebellion but this isn’t addressed. The First Order, being in a position of power, also felt a little off after their base planet was blown up at the end of the last movie. I was expecting more of a power vacuum situation but instead the villains are back to their big bad best. The fleet is running low on fuel and seem destined to die if they can’t shake off their pursuers. It reminded me forcefully of the first episode of Battlestar Gallactica. Unfortunately, Battlestar Gallactica does it better.
Storyline 2: Revenge of the Rey
The Rey Jedi storyline is easily the most interesting thing happening. Rey tries to persuade Luke to either come back to the Rebels or at least train her. She also begins connecting with Kylo Ren through the force.
Storyline 3: Finn and Rose Ruin Everything
Finn and his new sidekick Rose visit a casino planet in the hopes of finding a legendary hacker who could help them save the rebels.
Now for the spoilers!
Star Wars The Force Awakens was accused of playing things too safe. The same cannot be said for The Last Jedi. The movie finds traction in the Rey storyline as she tries to bring both Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren to her side. This ultimately leads to Luke’s return and Kylo killing his own master whilst trying to place the First Order into his and Rey’s hands. The killing of Supreme Leader Snoke was a brash move but I loved it. One of the big reveals is that force sensitivity is not carried through magical blood lines rather, it’s a natural occurrence throughout the universe. Having Kylo Ren offer Rey a place at his side despite her ignoble origins was an interesting take on the Darth Vader offer to Luke in the Empire Strikes Back.
Where The Last Jedi comes unstuck is in its other storylines. Captain Poe Dameron is desperately trying to help the Rebels survive the First Order’s chase. He thinks up an alternative strategy and is snubbed by his new leader Purple-Hair Laura Dern who refuses to tell Poe what is going on. This is much to Poe and the audience’s fury as the leadership seems to be doing nothing as people die.
Poe sends Finn and Rose on an adventure to the gambling planet Canto Blight to find a hacker. The intent here seems to be to show the true evils behind both the rich galactic society and the First Order. Rose showing the pain of the downtrodden to Finn seems rather like she is preaching to the choir. Finn was part of a firing squad killing unarmed civilians in the previous movie. He knows what effect evil has on the downtrodden!
The Canto Blight sequence is littered with bad CGI and awkward looking puppets leaving it looking like a manifestation of the prequel trilogy pasted into the new trilogy. Many of the people (including myself) used this sequence to take a piss break. The cinema was full of patrons looking to unload their bladders and seeing their concentrations wane during the Finn/Rose storyline speaks volumes.
Some of the media has been quick to defend the Finn/Rose storyline:
“Seeing a young Asian woman and a black man on a mission to save the galaxy is very much a part of what Star Wars can offer a new generation of filmgoers. To complain that it dragged in places compared to the angsty drama of white characters Luke, Rey, and Kylo is to miss some of the aspirational purpose of Star Wars.”
Quote from Vanity Fair, Joanna Robinson
Whilst it is important that there’s more inclusion at the box office, I don’t think it can be used to defend a segment of the movie that sucks and damages the overall plot and pacing.
Purple-Hair Laura Dern, a newcomer, is given a role as Leia’s second in command, replacing Admiral Ackbar. This is another example of the push for more female inclusion. She fits in somewhat well but it still feels cheap to kill off the character who destroyed the second Death Star with a single line of dialogue.
The world building itself is a mixed bag in the Last Jedi. Some areas like Luke’s Island, Ahch-to look perfectly realised with the shots mostly taken from Malin Head (Co Donegal) and Skellig (Co Kerry). I was expecting to hate the Porgs (a native species to the Island) but they actually got a few laughs out of me and seemed less goofy than the suddenly omnipowerful BB8. Other areas include far too much bad green screening. In some ways the Star Wars universe itself seems flimsier than ever with the Millenium Falcon having gone from an under-powered rustbucket to the most powerful craft in the universe. The only thing assisting its exponential rise is the popularity of the vehicle itself. How the First Order keeps coming out on top is also a mystery. They seem like a collection of feckless losers constantly screwing up. Yet we all know, they will mysteriously find the materials to replace their downed ships soon anyway.
The actions scenes are competently shot for the most part. Ren and Kylo’s fight scene is a wonderful example of how the new movies are superior to the prequels with their fight choreography.
What I cannot abide in movies is poor editing in scenes. Captain Phasma literally teleports to the other side of a hangar bay during an action scene for no reason. It’s a confusing and bizarre move that screams of editing floor cuts. Also Captain Phasma’s armour reflects laser blasts that would normally kill her for no reason other than to set up a climactic battle.
Thematically, the movie had some severe issues. The “burning down the old” theme of Kylo Ren, Rey and Yoda works perfectly. In the other storylines there are some severe mixed messages though.
Admiral Leia tells Poe,
“Not every problem can be solved by jumping in an X-Wing and blowing stuff up.”
Yet the Rebels are saved by Purple-Hair Laura Dern jumping into the cockpit and blowing up the enemy ship (in another scene reminiscent of Battlestar Gallactica).
Rose stops Finn’s attempted suicidal sacrifice by ramming into him (nearly killing both of them). Her explanation?
“That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.”
That’s all well and good but Finn was trying to save what he loved, the people of the Rebellion. Rose almost causes the death of every single Rebel with this action. Luckily the Rebellion is saved by Luke Skywalker fighting to the death against what he hates. Do you see that? Do you see how this movie undercuts most of the morals it tries to expouse?
The only real moral we can gleam from the The Last Jedi seems to be we should all implicitly trust authority figures. I know for a fact that isn’t what the director Rian Johnson was aiming for particularly when the authority figures in the movie make such poor decisions. Like why didn’t the Rebels just load everyone else onto all the other hyperspace worthy vehicles and have everyone abandon their main vessel as it was the only one being tracked? The escape pod choice was a horrible one.
The acting is rather fantastic across the board in this movie. Star Wars newcomers Kelly Tran and Laura Dern play their parts as well as the story allows them to. Carrie Fisher puts in a fine performance. Her final scene with Luke is magical. John Boyega’s humourous portrayal shows no signs of becoming irritating. Daisy Ridley was a brilliant find for the series and this movie further cements this.
In Summary
Star Wars The Last Jedi struggles under the pressure of presenting intricate themes whilst providing a functioning plot. It tries to juggle these but ultimately drops all of them as it stumbles through the many finish lines (it’s almost as bad as Lord of the Rings in this regard). The forced Disney humour and the cliffhanger spam doesn’t help things either.
The movie ends with the battles between the Jedi and the Sith being as addictive to watch as ever and yet the battle between the Rebels and the First Order looks extremely stale, now acting as more of a filler than anything tasty.
Score:
6.5 / 10
